Title

Tuesday, 24 February 2015

When we first meet Satan in the
Bible, it is as a lawyer. (Insert obligatory lawyer joke.) “The
prosecutor” is the translation of הַשָּׂטָן(haśśāṭān) preferred in Job 1-2 by Fokkelman[1]
and in Zech. 3:1-2 by Petersen.[2]
Fokkelman explains the setting of the prologue of Job:

The author opens the Book of Job
in his role as omniscient narrator. That quality enables him to inform us of
what goes on in the heavenly council. He lets us listen in while God is talking
to an angel on duty, a sort of District Attorney.[3]

Similarly, Zech. 3:1-2 takes
place in a “courtroom setting”,[4]
a “legal context…in the divine council”[5]:

The scene is set with השׂטן
in the role of prosecutor,המלאך [hammalʾak] as the
defense attorney, Yahweh as the judge, and the high priest Joshua as the
defendant (3:1).[6]

Stokes states that according to
the “present scholarly consensus,” the śāṭān in the Old Testament “serves God as
a sort of prosecuting attorney in the heavenly court.”[7]

It is notable that in these two Old
Testament passages (and only these two) śāṭān has the definite article: it is not
merely a prosecutor, but the prosecutor. Most scholars do not
regard śāṭān
as a proper name in these passages, since proper names in Hebrew do not
normally have the article, though it is possible.[8]
Hence śāṭān
should probably be translated here and not transliterated. (This is in contrast
to the New Testament, where satanas should definitely be transliterated ‘Satan’
since the writers have already transliterated it from Hebrew/Aramaic into
Greek).

It is not necessarily the case
that haśśāṭān in Job is the same being as haśśāṭān in Zechariah. The word refers to “a
certain office in the divine council”[9]
and not necessarily a specific person, though it is likely that ancient readers
with both books before them would have identified the two. Hence it is not
surprising that by the time the New Testament was written, Satan is the
designation of a specific being. There is a consensus that śāṭān refers to
a heavenly adversary in four OT texts: Numbers 22:22-32, 1 Chronicles 21:1,[10]
Job 1-2, and Zechariah 3.[11]

It is as a heavenly prosecutor
that Satan features most prominently in rabbinic literature, as well:

The role of accuser is common to
all rabbinic sources, while that of seducer is more or less restricted to the
Babylonian Talmud and the Tanhuma.[12]

These dual functions of seduction
and accusation were not regarded by the Rabbis as contradictory but as complementary.
In BBat 16a, a saying attributed to an anonymous Tanna states that Satan

comes down to earth and seduces,
then ascends to heaven and awakens wrath; permission is granted to him and he
takes away the soul.

Satan is portrayed here as an
overzealous prosecutor who engages in what would be called ‘entrapment’ in a
modern legal context. He induces people to sin so that he might prosecute them (and,
having won his case, he also plays the role of executioner).

In the New Testament, the
accusing function of Satan is nearly absent. Instead, Satan is primarily a
seducer and an oppressor. Nevertheless, Satan does appear as an accuser or even prosecutor in a
few New Testament passages, two of which will be discussed here.

In Luke 22:31-32, Jesus tells
Simon Peter that Satan has requested permission to sift ‘you’ (ὑμᾶς, humas, plural pronoun referring to all the
disciples) like wheat. Crump states, “The similarity in this with the heavenly
court scenes of Job 1:8-12; 2:3-7 has been observed many times.”[13]

The Greek verb used here, ἐξαιτέω(exaiteō), means “to ask for with emphasis
and with implication of having a right to do so.”[14]
What does ‘sift like wheat’ mean, and from whom did Satan request permission to
do this? In the Old Testament, the imagery of harvesting wheat is used
repeatedly to describe divine judgment (Ps. 35:5; Jer. 13:24; Amos 9:9; cf. Matt.
3:12). Hence, Satan’s request for permission to sift the disciples like wheat
probably means that he has brought charges against them in the hope of
awakening God’s wrath so that he can execute judgment. It is the same concept
reflected in the Talmud in BBat. 16a. That God is the recipient of his request for
permission is confirmed by Jesus’ countermove, which is to make an intercessory
prayer for Simon Peter (σοῦ, sou,
singular pronoun). As Crump states, “The juxtaposition of ‘Satan has demanded…but
I have asked’ (ἐγὼδὲἐδεήθην) indicates that Jesus’ prayer has
been specifically aimed at effectively countering Satan’s interest.”[15]

In this text, then, we have Satan
functioning as a prosecutor and Jesus as an intercessor.

Satan’s accusing function is again
apparent in Rev. 12:10-11. John sees a vision of war in heaven between Michael
and the dragon and their respective angels (the dragon being identified as
Satan), and the dragon and his angels lose their place in heaven and are thrown down to earth. A proclamation
then comes from heaven:

Now have come the salvation and
the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Messiah, for the
accuser (ὁκατήγωρ,
ho katēgōr)[16]
of our comrades has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our
God. But they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of
their testimony, for they did not cling to life even in the face of death.
(Rev. 12:10-11 NRSV)

Crump states concerning this
passage, “The OT background is that of ‘Prosecutor’ in the heavenly court.”[17]
As in the Talmud, the picture here is of an overzealous prosecutor: he brings
charges day and night. The Greek word translated ‘accuser’ is katēgōr,[18]
a diminutive form of katēgoros, a legal technical
term for a prosecutor:

Katēgoros (κατήγορος)
refers to the prosecutor in the Athenian court and continued to be used in the
Greek East. Katēgoros is also used in the sense of a
prosecutor in Josephus (Antiquities, 7.6) and in an inscription from Laconia
dated to 42 CE.[19]

The procedure of criminal trials
in ancient Israel is described as follows:

Both civil and criminal actions
were tried at the gate, and, undoubtedly, the selection of this place for trial
was made to allow the maximum number of people to witness the proceedings. In a
criminal case, the accusing party stood to the right of the accused[20]
and, in the presence of the elders (who were seated), presented his or her
complaint. Although this accusation was usually given orally, it might be
written. The accused person might be assisted in his or her defense by a
defender, who was in fact a witness for the defense. Each of the elders sitting
as a judge acted as an arbitrator in the case and might himself give evidence
pertinent to the matter being tried. The accusing witness bore special
responsibility for prosecuting the case, and his role was emphasized by the
rule that, if the death penalty were imposed, it was he who was responsible for
throwing the first stone in execution of the judgment.[21]

It seems that in ancient Israel,
the role of accuser was not generally conducted by a state-appointed professional
as today.[22]
Nevertheless, whether by divine appointment or self-appointment, Satan came to
be viewed as one fulfilling this function in the heavenly court on an ongoing
basis.

So much for the accuser; what
about the defence? Once again, in ancient Israel there were not generally
professional defence attorneys available to the public. So too, “In ancient
Rome, lawyers…generally did not represent private parties before the various
courts.”[23]
Nevertheless, in Roman criminal procedure, the accused, “if he so desired,
could choose a representative to defend him (‘patronus,’ ‘advocatus’).”[24]
The nearest equivalent of advocatus in Greek was παράκλητος(paraklētos). It has long
been debated whether paraklētos is “a legal
word sometimes used more generally or a word of more general meaning sometimes
applied in legal proceedings”.[25]
A number of scholars and lexical authorities have argued that paraklētos is a technical term meaning something
like “defence attorney”. Following Grayston’s careful study of
occurrences of this rare word in ancient Greek, many scholars have accepted his
conclusion that paraklētos “was a word
of general meaning which could appear in legal contexts, and when it did the paraklētos was a supporter or sponsor.”[26] However, Shelfer has more recently argued that paraklētos is a "precise calque for the Latin legal term advocatus". He holds that this meaning applies in all five occurrences in the Johannine writings.[27]

Harvey takes a balanced view of the matter:

When (according to the traditional
picture) one came before the judgment seat of God, one would find oneself
facing formidable charges. Sins which one had forgotten would be brought
against one; and the devil (the ‘accuser’) would be there, seeking to make one
appear in the worst possible light. But there would be certain things on the
other side. Good deeds might speak in one’s favour and outweigh the contrary
evidence. To borrow a term from Jewish legal procedure, one would find that one
had a paraclete, an ‘advocate’ (the original word paraklētos
was Greek, but had been taken over into the language in the form peraqlit).
In a Jewish court a plaintiff or defendant was entitled to enlist the help, not
only of a witness to the facts, but of a person of high standing who might give
personal support and advise the judges to believe what they were being told.
This was not ‘advocacy’ in the western, professional sense: the paraclete
influenced the judges’ decision, not by expertise in the law (this was the
judges’ business), but by the fact of being a person enjoying the esteem and
trust of society. Nevertheless the nearest word in English is probably ‘advocate’,
so long as this is understood in a non-professional sense.[28]

The word paraklētos
is used several times in the Gospel of John where it refers to the Holy Spirit
(John 14:16; 14:26; 15:26; 16:7), and once in 1 John where it refers to Jesus
Christ (1 John 2:1). Even in the Gospel, Jesus’ promise to send “another paraklētos” implies that he too is a paraklētos, and the fact that he sends that paraklētos subordinates the Holy Spirit’s role to
his own.

In the Gospel of John it is not
obvious that the word is used in a legal setting; it is sometimes translated
‘Advocate’ (NIV; NET; NLT; NRSV) but also as ‘Helper’ (NASB; NKJV; ESV; ISV) or
some synonym. The functions of the paraklētos in John 14-16
include: (1) dwelling within the community, he gives access to the Father; (2)
teaching all things necessary for an approach to the Father; (3) mediating in
relation to the community and the world; (4) proceeding against the world on
behalf of the community.[29]

However, in John 16:6-11 it is
significant that the paraklētos is mentioned
in connection with forensic language (sin, righteousness and judgment). It is
even more significant that the explanation of how he will “prove the world
wrong about judgment” is, “because the ruler of this world has been condemned.”
The ruler of this world is recognized by most scholars as a designation for
Satan (cf. 1 John 5:19).[30]
In John 12:31 he is said to be “cast out” in connection with Jesus’ death. This
closely parallels the idea of Rev. 12:7-11, and suggests that Jesus’ death has resulted
in the judgment and casting out of the katēgōr, which paves
the way for the paraklētos. (Satan
remains active, as detailed in Rev. 12:12-18, but now has no access to the
heavenly court.)

In 1 John 2:1 the paraklētos is Jesus, and here the forensic
connotation of the term is unmistakable: “But if anyone does sin, we have an
advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous”. The key difference
between the Holy Spirit as paraklētos and Jesus as paraklētos is that the Holy Spirit is with us whereas
Jesus is with the Father. The Holy Spirit is sent by Jesus to assist believers
in their earthly situation while Jesus himself intercedes for us in the
heavenly court – the exact opposite of Satan’s function.

What is interesting about the
words katēgōr and paraklētos is that both
were borrowed into Hebrew as loanwords (קַטֵיגוֹר, qaṭēḡôrand פְּרַקְלִיט,
peraqlît) and appear
frequently in rabbinic literature in legal contexts referring to a prosecutor
and advocate respectively, including in the context of the heavenly court.[31]
Consider the following examples:

“One single angel is an advocate (peraqlît) out of one thousand
accusers (qaṭēḡôr)” (Targum Job 33:23)[32]

“R. Eliezer ben Yaakov says, ‘One
who performs one commandment acquires for himself one advocate (peraqlît) but one who
transgresses one transgression acquires for himself one prosecutor (qaṭēḡôr).’”
(M. Avot. 4:11)[33]

“Michael and Sama’el are like an
attorney for the defence (סַנֵּיגוֹר, saneḡôr)[34]
and a prosecutor (qaṭēḡôr) [that] stand in court. The one speaks and
the other speaks. The one concludes his case and the other one likewise. [Then]
the defence attorney knew he had won, and began praising the judge so that he
should give the verdict. The prosecutor wished to add a point. Said the defence
attorney to him: Be silent, and let us listen to the judge.” (Ex. Rabbah 18.5)[35]

“For on all the days of the year, Satan is able to draw up an indictment[36], but on
the Day of Atonement, Satan is not able to draw up an indictment.” (Lev. Rabbah
21.4.H)[37]

It is probable that this Jewish
notion of Michael and Satan (or Sama’el) as opposing attorneys stands in the
background of the conflict described in Rev. 12:7-9 (cf. also Jude 9), which
explains the use of qaṭēḡôr in 12:10. In the New Testament, Michael’s
advocacy function is vestigial, having been superseded by that of the exalted
Christ.

The Leviticus Rabbah text
is significant because it shows that in Jewish thought, atonement was seen as a
restraint on Satan’s ability to prosecute. The same idea is taken further in
Rev. 12:10-11. Jesus’ atoning work was so efficacious that the Prosecutor did not merely get a day off; he was disbarred!

A last comment concerns the
relationship between Jesus’ role as paraklētos and his role
as eschatological judge. To our modern minds this appears to be a conflict of
interest: how can a judge also serve as intercessor for a defendant? However,
in ancient Israel the lines between these various juridical roles were not as
clearly demarcated as they are today:

The judge… sometimes personally
fulfils the task of prosecuting (like a modern police magistrate) and at other
times the judge appears as counsel for the accused.[38]

Reading through the account of
the final judgment in Matt. 25:31-46, it appears that Jesus fulfils all
of these functions. Or put differently, there is no need for any function besides
judge because Jesus fulfils it perfectly. In the meantime, Jesus is available
as paraklētos to those who seek Him by faith, while
the prosecutor’s office is vacant:

Who will bring a charge against
God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ
Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of
God, who also intercedes for us. (Romans 8:33-34 NASB)

[1]
Fokkelman, J.P. (2012). The Book of Job in Form: A Literary Translation with
Commentary. Leiden: Brill, p. 37.

[7]Stokes, R.E. (2014). Satan, Yhwh’s
Executioner. Journal of Biblical Literature, 133(2), 251-270. See pp.
251-252. Stokes himself disagrees with the consensus. He thinks the śāṭān’s function is that of executioner,
not prosecutor.

[10] The
consensus is less dominant concerning 1 Chr. 21:1, which lacks the article and is
seen by some as referring to an anonymous human adversary; so Japhet, S. (1993).
I & II Chronicles: A Commentary. Louisville: Westminster John Knox
Press, pp. 373-375. Note however that Japhet acknowledges that in Zech. 3:1ff
and Job 1-2 Satan is “a member of the divine entourage”, in the former case “the
supernatural accuser in the divine court.”

[11]That this point is uncontroversial
can be seen in Stokes, R.E. (2009). The Devil Made David Do It… or ‘Did’ He?
The Nature, Identity, and Literary Origins of the ‘Satan’ in 1 Chronicles 21:1.
Journal of Biblical Literature, 128(1), pp. 91-106. See p. 94; Brown,
D.R. (2011). The Devil in the Details: A Survey of Research on Satan in
Biblical Studies. Currents in Biblical Research, 9(2), 200-227. See p. 203.

[16] Most
manuscripts have κατήγορος. See
Metzger : 673 for discussion on why the majority of the committee regarded κατήγωρ
(found only in Codex Alexandrinus) as original. The words have the same meaning,
so this text-critical issue has no effect on our study.

About

Welcome to the personal blog of Thomas Farrar. Content consists mainly of biblical studies, theology and Church history written at a semi-technical level.

About the author

I am a Canadian residing in Cape Town, South Africa. I was received into the Roman Catholic Church at the 2017 Easter Vigil, having previously been a Baptist and, before that, a Christadelphian. A statistics lecturer by profession, I hold an Honours degree in theology and have published in peer-reviewed biblical studies journals. My curriculum vitae can be downloaded here. I enjoy spending time with my lovely wife and family, playing the euphonium, choral singing, reading, and writing.